Roberto Gonzalez: Wary of constitutional convention

Jack Partridge’s May 22 Commentary in support of a state constitutional convention (“Update and reform R.I. government”) was long on nostalgia, but short on facts.

Jack Partridge’s May 22 Commentary in support of a state constitutional convention (“Update and reform R.I. government”) was long on nostalgia, but short on facts.

The 1973 convention may have been one big happy family, but a lot has changed in the 40 years since he had his fun there. Most prominently, there has been a gargantuan increase in the role of out-of-state, big-monied special interests influencing the electoral process.

Do we really want to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to give them a constitutional convention to flex their muscles? No other state has been that foolish, and for good reason.

Whatever happened in 1973, I can vouch for what happened at the convention in 1986, where I was a delegate. It was embroiled in political wheeling and dealing from start to finish. A convention is a cure that’s worse than the disease. Let’s not go there again.